What You're Reading the Week of 19 May 2007

Paul Emil Erdman The Silver Bears Tug of war : today's global currency crisis This week, I finished Jed Rubenfeld 's debut book The Interpretation of Murder , continuing the psychological theme with a murder story told around Freud's visit to New York. Slow to start, good in the middle, rushed at the end - but non the less an enjoyable and eminently well-researched novel. I've now had a complete change and started Orhan Pamuk's {sorry - no touchstone} Istanbul: Memories of a City beautifully written memoir of a life in Istanbul, I know just enough to see a few of the places in my mind's eye.

I finished reading Super Cannes which very much reminded me of J.G.Ballard's other book,Cocaine nights. Very similar plot line and description of these utopias that need evil to exist in. Interesting reading.

I am now reading Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. I am finding this rather a unique read, and I am enjoying the pictures in it.

Closing in on the end of The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley (a prequel of Mists of Avalon), and I'm enjoying it quite a lot - not perfect, but I like the writing and the characters.

Still listening to The Thrall's Tale, and probably will be for quite a long time... It's pretty good, but I just cannot seem to find any time to listen to my audiobook.

I just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy - a very difficult read but I really enjoyed it. It took me a while to get used to his style of writing but once I did, the reading went pretty quickly.

I just started Because It is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates. It is one of my first books by this author. So far I am enjoying it and think that it will go quickly. Also, when I opened it, I noticed a bookcrossing plate in the front so I immediately went and registered it as found. Unfortunately, there is apparently only one person who releases books in my town so I told hold much hope on finding other books.

I'm still reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (not much time to read lately). I'm also reading a collection of short stories by Louisa May Alcott - Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. These short stories are very good!

On May 16, I have completed reading Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger .

Now I am a reading a different book . As of 0000H GMT of May 19, I have so far completed 54% of the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald .

bookaholicgirl - I also just read The Road and I loved it; very profound novel.

As many of you already know, I'm still making my way through A Tale of Two Cities, but it's becoming an easier read the farther I get. In the meantime, though, I'm also reading State of Fear by Michael Crichton, which seems to be shaping into a fairly interesting read. I'll have to see how it plays out.

#5 GeorgiaDawn - how do you like Mistborn so far? It took me a little longer to really get into it, but once I did I had a blast with it.

I'm just ready to start Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

Coloradogirl14- I personally love A Tale of Two Cities and Im really trying to reread it myself, but Im having trouble getting into it. I just thought I would add my two cents in about that.

Currently reading Northanger Abbey and I love it so far. Its my first Jane Austen book and it really makes me want to read more. Any suggestions for my next read--something along the lines of Jane Austen or maybe a Bronte?

I just finished reading I Bought Andy Warhol, which I liked even though it made (almost) everyone in the art world seems like enormous jerks. And I've started reading 5000 Nights at the Opera, which looks like it'll be good.

I've just started The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai which I'm really looking forward to.

# 1 GreyHead - I read The Interpretation of Murder very recently for a reading circle and rather enjoyed it. Nice concept.


#10 ReadinginSunshine - Northanger Abbey was the novel that got me into Jane Austen (I'd read and not much enjoyed Emma but decided to give her another try and was NOT disappointed by this gothic romance!). It's my favourite of hers that I've read to date.

I'm about to start Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride. It's his third novel (all set in Aberdeen, Scotland, where I live!) and I loved the first two, so I'm hoping this one will be just as good. I actually met the author last weekend and he was very friendly. Signed my book and drew a little naked man next to his autograph. ;)

#10 - If you liked Northanger Abbey why not try a book by ann radcliffe? The Italian is fairly short and is a thrilling read. Sorry about no touchstone but the wrong book kept coming up and I can't change it, so I thought rather no touchstone than a misleading one!

>10 ReadinginSunshine:: ReadinginSunshine, I've read Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility and just love Jane Austen. I'm planning to read all of her books. You can't go wrong with her stuff!

I am still enjoying Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott and The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. I'll be traveling this coming week, so I'm also packing The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (book club for next month) and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, which is on loan from the library.

*Sorry about the lack of touchstones for two of the books!*

I finished Michael Pollan's very interesting The Omnivore's Dilemma -- made me think a lot about what food I should be eating and the profound impact of politics and corporate influence on what's available for us to eat.

Also zipped through Sara Paretsky's Writing in an Age of Silence, billed as a memoir but more a collection of political and historical essays.

Just started Later, at the Bar (no touchstone) by Rebecca Barry and am determined to finally finish the biography of Simon Bolivar by John Lynch before starting anything else.

I started Year of Wonders today. It took me a little while to get into it, but now I find it vivid and moving.

Still working on The Stones Cry Out, my night time book. It's a sad story, but I really like the writing style.

Reading the The Death of Napoleon by Simon Leys. Just Finished The return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis and
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham

I'm still working on The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh. I've finished Kesrith and just started Shon'jir.

Last night I started Blue Noon which is the third book in Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters Trilogy.

I just finished The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. Quite good although a little difficult to read at times. I need to brush up on ancient history and Greek philosphers - I would have gotten more out of it.

I am going to start A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul -- my first by him.

#10 sunshine -- I also really liked Northanger Abbey as well. Pride and Predjudice of course is a must; Mansfield Park is my other fave.

I agree Re: Ann Radcliffe -- you might even try the actual Mystreries of Udolpho. It is long and there is alot of fainting and poetry that gets annoying but in the end it is avery satisfying gothic mystery.

I just finished The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. It was a wonderful book. Unfortunately it was too short and too quick. I started it on the 18th and finished it this morning.

I read The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen. It reminded me a lot of Da Vinci Code.. Not sure why. I just started Westward by Dana Fuller Ross... so far so good.

I'm reading The Every Boy by Dana Adam Shapiro. Has anyone read that? Did you enjoy it? I'm really not enjoying it, but in spite of that, it's well-written, so I keep reading.

And Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes.

I'm still working my way through A Tale of Two Cities. I keep a paperback in the car to read if I end up having lunch out by myself, or waiting for an appointment, and I've just started Ursula LeGuin's The Telling, which reminds me of some of her other Hainish books but has a more assured style. So far I love it.

My reading is going somewhat more slowly this past week since I found LT and started spending time here!

I just started The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian. I'm not sure what I think of it. Read The view from Castle Rock: Stories by Alice Munro and loved it.

May 19 -

Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR
Cosmic Biology
Children of the Stars: Our origin, evolution and Destiny
Red Giants and White Dwarfs

#9 xicanti - It is difficult to get into, but I'm not giving up on Mistborn. It took me several chapters before I got interested in Elantris and then it was great! I'm hoping this book is the same.

jhowell: will be interested to hear how you like A Bend in the River - this is a book I'd like to read some day!

I will be starting Finn: a novel by Jon Clinch today. I believe others find some aspects of this book to be very startling. I just hope that I don't need to remember details of Huckleberry Finn - I read that so long again that I don't remember the details.

I also picked up some short non-fiction books from the library that I hope to read throughout the week: Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way and The World According To Mister Rogers: important things To remember - both by Fred Rogers- and Great Quotes from Great Leaders by Peggy Anderson.

#30 - writestuff- I have just read about 75 pages of A Bend in the River easily this afternoon. It is very engaging, well-written -- but easy to read. It is also quite short ~ 275 pgs -- not a daunting task - so so far I would recommend.

I also just finished other books but LT isn't letting me edit my original responses.

Rich Dad's Who Took My Money?: Why Slow Investors Lose and Fast Money Wins!
Mission to Mars : plans and concepts for the first manned landing

This has been a very bookish day.

Last week I finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, Misfortune: A Novel by Wesley Stace, and A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by XiaoLu Guo. Of those three, Misfortune was my favorite, but none of them really grabbed me. The Edwards and the Guo faltered in the last half, and Misfortune sagged in the middle. I hate it when I have a disappointing streak; here's to hoping this week will bring some better reading.

I've just started Matrimony by Joshua Henkin, and so far, it's looking like an improvement.

Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas

thanks for the feedback, jhowell :) Looks like it will move up on my TBR pile!

Just finished The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon and Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin The Franklin book was disappointing in the last part-too cloying for me. I am now reading Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart A number of LT reviewers don't like his work-but I do! Will go on to read another Boris Akunin mystery.
Hmm- The Yiddish Policemen's Union touchstone doesn't seem to be loading

I'm a quarter of the way through one of Robert Olmstead's novels from over a decade ago: A Trail of Heart's Blood Wherever We Go. I loved his new one Coal Black Horse and it has pushed me to read his previous works.

This week I finished reading Watching the watchdog about bloggers as the fifth estate. I gave up reading Information Anxiety 2 as I found I was skipping most of it. I'm still reading Well of Yearning by Caiseal Mor, which is proving an interesting read.

I am reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro It's alright and nice to read but isn't gripping enough for me. Last week I read Nineteen minutes : a novel by Jodi Picoult and that was a great read!

I plan to start House of Dreams by Pauline Gedge next. I'm not really sure I feel like an historical novel right now, but I guess I'll find out.

I finished Shon'jir by C. J. Cherryh and I'm a few pages into Kutath.

I've got bookmarks in four books this week. I'm about 2/3 thru Einstein: His Work and Universe by Walter Isaacson. Well done biography that captures the man and the science.

Next, I'm a couple of chapters into The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable By Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Basic idea is that what we don't know is more important than what we do know. One of those books that makes ya think in a different way.

In SF I'm 1/3 thru The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald. I think I know where she's going with some of the spacetime stuff. An overall military SF story.

Finally, in historical mystery I've just started The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard. Hey, it features Edgar Allan Poe so it can't be that bad. Not sure if I'll finish them all this week or not.

I'm re-reading The Black Swan because some people here at LT said it was their favorite Lackey. I remember not thinking all that much of it, but thought I would give it another shot. I'm still not impressed and think it's one of her worst works.

Just finished As a Man Thinketh by James Allen and will be starting The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad. They are the first books listed in 50 Self-Help Classics and 50 Spiritual Classics, respectively, by Tom Butler-Bowden.

Finished Later, at the Bar (no touchstone) by Rebecca Barry, a lovely book.

I finished The Bounty by Caroline Alexander, and interesting account that turns the conventional view of the mutiny on the Bounty on its head.

Today I'll start Chinaman's Chance by Ross Thomas. I haven't read a thriller in ages, so we'll see how this goes.

I just finished Blue Noon and will be starting The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, which will be my first Christopher Moore novel.

Yesterday I finished Ralph Ellison: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad and After Dark by Haruki Murakami. Today I will start Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life by Sari Nusseibeh. I'll also start This War Called Love, a collection of short stories set in Mexico and in the Mission District of San Francisco by Alejandro Murguia, which I picked up at City Lights in SF earlier this month.

This week I'm starting The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm also continuing with Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, but I'm not expecting to finish that this week, as I'm practicing the techniques as I read.

Reading Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas, a light historical romance, which is just what I needed after an overwhelmingly busy week at the office.

I just finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and found it to be a brave and sad retelling of this woman's childhood. It's a very absorbing read. I just wonder what made the parents be like that to their four children.

Yesterday I started Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. It doesn't seem like the kind of book I like, but I'll give it a go.

I finished The Thirteenth Tale and am now a few chapters into Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn. Each chapter introduces a new character associated with the mystery, and the connections & suspense are starting to build.

#52 - lindsacl - What did you think of The Thirteenth Tale? It's almost at the top of my TBR pile.

>53 mrstreme:: mrstreme, I really enjoyed it. I was distressed all week because I was pretty busy with work and had less time to read.

You can find a review on my blog (don't worry, no spoilers):
http://laura0218.livejournal.com/13169.html

SqueakyChu, I have The Glass Castle sitting in my TBR pile. I cheated and read the first couple chapters - it looks very well-written and I'm excited to read it.

I finished off both my day book and my night book last night, so I've decided to start The Kite Runner for day reading and When the Emperor Was Divine for night time reading.

--> 55

I'll be very interested to hear your comments on The Glass Castle when you're finished with it. I have been discussing it with other readers on The Reading Lounge over the past two weeks. Feel free to join that discussion now, or, if it's too late later, you can always read the archives. I'm putting my copy of this book in the mail tomorrow to share with other BookCrossers.

The Kite Runner is an excellent book. I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with the author long before his book was well known. I'm thrilled that his book has become such a success. I originally found it on the new book shelf of my public library. That was back in 2003!

By the way, Khaled Hosseini has just released his newest novel which was reviewed in The Washington Post book section this weekend. Per Jonathan Yardley, Hosseini's newest book is supposed to be even better than The Kite Runner! I can't wait until I get to read it.

I loved The Glass Castle. I thought it was a great story of survival! It made me wonder how many of my students have been in similar situations.

I loved the The Glass Castle also. I recently finished The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde and Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark. I do not think that Mary Higgins Clark's more recent books are as good as her early ones.

I am now reading The Wheat Field by Steve Thayer.

Finsihed The Maltese Falcon. I find it impossible to read without comparing it to the Huston film. I'm about 30 pages into The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. Good so far. Drawings by the author are a nice touch.

May 20 - The last vampire 2 : black blood

I'm reading The Champion by Elizabeth Chadwick and quite liking it. It isn't earth-shattering or particularly unique, but it has wonderful characters, a realistic romance that doesn't overpower the story, and a medieval setting that I find quite accurate for the time. I'm nearly finished with this one and definitely looking forward to reading more of her work.

I'm moving on to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte next...

I finished A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul in one weekend. It is fabulous! It is not uplifting; no hero; no love story; no redemption -- but it is brilliant. What flawless prose. Besides Things fall Apart it is really the first book I have read about colonial/post colonial Africa.

It was one of those reads where out of reverence you feel you can't start another book for a few days. (of course, I will anyway.) I highly recommend this as an unforgettable, haunting accessible work of literary fiction

hi writestuff and bookaholicgirl- i finished the road last week and i found it terrific- a lot better than some of this other books but the writing style does take some getting used to

jhowell: Thanks for your comments on A Bend In The River - I LOVED Things Fall Apart and it sound like Naipaul's book is going to be another winner!

Cdyankeefan: Glad you liked The Road as much as I did. I wasn't bothered by the lack of punctuation - but I know a lot of people found that hard to deal with.

I'm almost finished with White Oleander by Janet Fitch... one of the best books I've EVER read. I haven't seen the movie, yet, but I might rent it sometime after I'm done. I'm going to reread it afterwards and highlight my favorite passages, and after that I'll probably start to read Emma. We're still working on The Great Gatsby in AP American Literature, and it's very good so far. Gatsby and his decieving personality is very intrigueing, and Nick's narration is hilarious and thought-provoking.

EDIT: Also have to get Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson... SQUEE!

Im reading One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. Has anybody else read it. After I'm done it, I will be doing a project on the difference between Soviet Labor Camps (Gulags) and Nazi Labor Camps.

jhowell: I know what you mean about a book so good you can't start another one for a few days. I just finished When the Emperor Was Divine tonight and it was such a perfect, moving little story that it's hard to imagine picking up another book (though I know that I will)

thibs53: I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Dinisovich during my Russian reading binge my freshman year of college. It's sort of a quiet classic - really well-written, not quite a revolutionary story, but still something that will stick with you for a while.

--> 57 and 58

The Glass Castle was really an amazing book. I'll look with a much less critical eye at street people now that I've read this book.

I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner author.) It was probably one of the best books I've read in a very very long time. A real page turner I couldn't put down, but yet hated to see the book end. I actually liked it better than The Kite Runner (and I loved the Kite Runner). Highly recommended.

>70 momom248:: Hosseini's book was reviewed in UK just this weekend gone, and I'm keen to read it. Glad that not just the paper's reviewer liked it.

Finished The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver which was one of the better Rhyme installments and then started The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. It's been ages since I read a Ripley and thought it would make a nice change of pace.

I've managed to get a lot of reading done over the Victoria Day weekend- it's been very relaxing and enjoyable.

I finished Lamb by Christopher Moore on Thursday night, which not only made me laugh out loud, but at times made me stop and think. It was a really interesting take on the unknown years of Christ's life. I'm sure it upset many on the Christian right, but I found it thouroughly entertaining.

I also read Rare Birds by Edward Riche. It's about a Newfoundland restauranter who's going belly up until his sketchy neighbour comes up with a brilliant scam to increase traffic. It was a good laugh.

On Monday, I read Our Town by Thornton Wilder for the first time. I'm a drama teacher and am considering it for one of next year's productions.

I'm also about 50 pages into Lucky Jim. I picked it up at a used book sale last week. It's my first shot at Kingsley Amis and so far so good.

Oh, mrlloyd23--I really enjoyed Lucky Jim. I hope you do as well.

I finished Chinaman's Chance today. Well, we all need books for our bottom 5 of the year. I'm not a big fan of thrillers (someone pressed this book upon me), and this had nothing to bring it above the ordinary.

I'm about to start The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which I have higher hopes for. I really enjoy Michael Chabon.

I'm starting The Kite Runner today. I really am. I swear it. I meant to start it yesterday, but my so-called bedtime reading book, When the Emperor Was Divine, was so beautiful that it wormed its way into my bag for daytime reading too.

I just started Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler. As I wrote in another post somewhere on LT, this is a biography of Denys Fitch Hatton, Karen Blixen's lover and the inspiration for Out of Africa. He's quite the victorian everyman with a delicious wild side!

I've finished The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh and I've started The Jack Vance Treasury edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan.

Just picked up The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's really good and easy to read so far.

I dusted an oldie: Mill on the Floss by George Elliot. Needless to say i'm loving the ancient murmurings of an English conversation :)

#67 - I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in high school and really liked it. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the class who did. I hope you like it too!

I'm just starting Tess of the d'Urbervilles and realizing how much I love Hardy's writing style. I really loved Far from the Madding Crowd and I'm glad I can now get into his work. I'm also reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because it's borrowed and I remember so little of what happened when I read it the first time.

Sidrah--George Elliot is becoming one of my favorite authors. I haven't read Mill on the Floss yet. I need to get that frm the library.

I'm reading Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. It is for the book club I joined. I think we'll get good conversation out of this one.

I'm about to finish Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Bring on book 7!!

I'm probably going to start some non-fiction after this. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson or maybe The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. I'm feeling the need for something of substance before I dive back into fiction.

>keren7
Super Cannes & Cocaine Nights are part of a trilogy w/ Millennium People as the closing book.

I'm presently reading Breakfast at Tiffany's

wonderlake (#83): Thanks for clearing that up ... I also had read Super Cannes and Cocaine Nights and was wondering about the similarities ... is this a "formal" trilogy? I mean, I don't think my copies of Super Cannes and Cocaine Nights indicate they're part of a trilogy.

Started Fangs but no Fangs by Kathy Love last night, another light read ~ this time a vampire romance. Only managed a few pages when sleepiness overcame me but I think it'll be a fun read. After that, like dulcibelle (#82), I think I'll get into something a little more substantial, maybe go back to Roma by Steven Saylor or Augustus by Anthony Everitt, both of which I started but didn't finish (each for a different reason).

#83 and #84 - yes - thanks - I also didn't know that. It is an official trilogy? I will definitely get the third book either way.

#56 SqueakyChu: I joined The Reading Lounge to take a look at the The Glass Castle discussion. It's quite interesting. Thanks for pointing it out.

Finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman last night and enjoyed it. I have this feeling I might have missed something major somewhere, because it didn't feel all that finished to me at the end. Or, mabye I was just confused because some key characters didn't feel like they were fleshed out enough (hinzleman (sp?), Sam, Whiskey Jack...).

Next on my TBR is A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. I have kind of low expectations because of mixed reviews... even though I loved his previous book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which was brilliant. So, I'll procrastinate a couple days and read some poetry magazines that have been collecting dust.

This week for storytime we are reading, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, The Rain Came Down by David Shannon, Home on the Range by Brian Ajhar (The touchtones aren't loading), and Bark, George and Give the Dog a Bone by Steven Kellogg. It's my last turn for storytime before the end of the school year, so we have to get in a lot of books and my 4 year olds LOVE books based on songs.

I finished The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove this morning and am really happy to have read it. I wasn't sure if I would like Christopher Moore's writing, I often times don't seem to like the same things everyone else seems to. But, it was pretty good and it made me laugh which is always a good recommendation for a book!

At lunch I started a paranormal romance called Dark Protector by Alexis Morgan and am really enjoying it so far.

This week, I am reading The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan), Assassination Vacation (Sarah Vowell) and The World According to Garp (John Irving).

All three are excellent, but I particularly recommend The Omnivore's Dilemma! If you'd be interested in discussing it, please feel free to link over to my profile.

Just finished Eat The Document by Dana Spiotta - it was edgy, a good read, but not great (3.5 rating).

Next up is Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

#81 I thought Breakfast of Champions was so great. I was probably in my early twenties when I read it (twenty some-odd years ago?), and I still refer to certain parts of the anatomy by phrases -and recall images -from that book. It STILL makes me laugh!

Audiobook: No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club by Virginia Ironside, read perfectly by Sian Phillips. Been called the Bridget Jones' Diary for seniors.

Carry-around book: The Cane Mutiny by Tamar Myers. Last(?) in her cozy series featuring Charleston antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake.

At-home book: The River Queen by Mary Morris. Novelist, and travel writer, describes her trip down the Mississippi in a houseboat.
Ed note: I gave up on this one after the requisite 50 pages.

I'm reading Portrait of a Lady by Henry James for my book club.

Still making my way through Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama.

hi all- just finished harry potter and the chamber of secrets and am now startingheart shaped box by joe hill- looks good so far

Finished The Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Wars Book One) last week and moved on to book two of the trilogy, Slave Ship (Bounty Hunter Wars, Book 2). Both books are by K.W. Jeter. While I wouldn't consider it one of my favorite Star Wars novels, the writer did manage to keep my interest. He did a pretty good job with all of the various unsavory characters (which is pretty much all of them in this particular trilogy!; the focus here is definitely on the "bad guys"). Timeline wise, the trilogy has a "present day" sequence which takes place "during" Return of the Jedi (but after Boba Fett's "encounter" with the Sarlacc creature), and a "past" sequence which takes place "just after" Star Wars: A New Hope. For more info, see my review. (P.S.: I definitely like these better than the one other book I'd read so far (many years ago, now) by Jeter, the much maligned Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warped.)

May 23-

Buying Real Estate Foreclosures
The population bomb
The coming age of solar energy
Biological Time Bomb

I've started in on The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchanan as my work e-book. Thus far it's quite entertaining.

I've been reading The Book of Samson by David Maine. I absolutely loved his other two The Preservationist and Fallen, particularly Fallen. This one is slow going. He's playing with punctuation a little, which makes it difficult. Also, the narrator is supposed to be telling a story from prison, so it is written conversationally, and he digresses a little. Still, it is short, and since I've truly enjoyed his others, I will finish it. Besides, I don't dislike it, it is just not grabbing my attention.

Listening to The Boleyn Inheritance while I knit and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter in the car. Enjoying both. The narrator of the McCullers book is wonderful, Cherry Jones, I think her name is.

mrllyod23,

Lucky Jim is a hoot.

Lucky Jim is the first book I had my wife read where she laughed out loud.
The Old Devils and Take a Girl Like You
are also good. The rest of his fiction is....

The Alteration is an interesting piece of science fiction based on the premise that the Reformation never happened. Goring becomes a Papal legate. The Green man was made into a good movie for Albert Finney.

The letters between the poet Phillip Larkin and Amis are interesting.

Hope you enjoyed Lucky Jim.

I just finished Beloved today. Very haunting, & since I'm wanting to read something a little bit lighter, I'm re-reading What to Keep, which I read years ago, but has since sat on my bookshelf since.

Read Drummers of Jericho on Sunday. I found it to be a bit heavy handed for middle school. It is about a Jewish girl who attends a very Christian public school in a very Christian town. She is in the marching band and as part of the marching band show this year they are playing hymns and marching in the shape of a cross. The main character protests marching in the shape of a cross and the town goes into an uproar.
Finished Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree this afternoon. It's about a young socially awkward girl who tries to solve the problems of her classmates through logic. It was okay although I've read better books about middle school recently, and I thought they were better written.
I am still reading the books in the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I am up to book 12 in the series, The Grooming of Alice.

I finished Washington's Crossing over the weekend, and started The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. (I woulda left off the subtitle, but it spat back a book by Gore Vidal, without the "others" link)

I'm about to start Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. If I like it I'll seek out the DVD, also.

I'm still working my way through Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I'm beginning to think Austen just might not be for me. It's weird too, as I love many authors she may be compared to (or rather, other female authors of the Victorian era). After hearing so much about her, I was just expecting to fall in love. I read Emma last summer and wasn't too keen on it either.

Any thoughts on Austen (aside from what was posted above)? Anyone else not that into her?

#104: The Remains of the Day is one of my all-time favorite books.

#105: I am not a big Jane Austen fan either. I can't really pick out one flaw, but I just don't find the books that entertaining.

I finished The Kite Runner over lunch. It was good, but I did not love it to pieces the way some people seem to. The first half was absolutely gorgeous - each of the characters and their relationships were so well-crafted that I sometimes forgot I was reading fiction. The last half though...I did think Khaled Hosseini played fair and acknowledged how difficult the situation was, but something about it still didn't ring true for me. Too many unbelievable coinicidences.

I'm planning to start The Glass Castle today. It's time for some non-fiction.

I'm reading Moo, by Jane Smiley. Good so far, though I was annoyed by the use of the old important-document-falls-behind-the-radiator trick.

I finished readin Train Man by Nakano Hitori and Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Both were great books. Train Man lived up to my expectations (in a positive way) and Watchmen has a lot of hoopla in reviews about it, but many reviews focus on telling about how good it is rather than focusing on why it is one of the greatest Graphic Novels of all time. Even though it is set and written in the 1980s, it's still relevant today, a tale about the actions of people under moral panic (as well as a Superhero story).

Now reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett.

I am now reading, and almost finished with, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, with The Innocent by Posie Graeme-Evans next up. Quite disturbed by Offred's tale, particularly the willingness of the people to just lay back and let others just take over, take away their rights; reflects too closely on what I see happening in the present day. Such things in my mind could happen too easily now to sit well with me.

Just finished Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates. I think that by the end, I pretty much hated this book which really disappointed me because it started out wonderfully. I am not sure what happened but it lost me somewhere. I have just started All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. I have only read the prologue but it seems good so far. I have sort of incorporated the 50 State challenge into my 50 book challenge - but I do not plan on reading books from all 50 states this year. I do plan on reading the states in alphabetical order but I imagine it will take me a few years to finish all 50 states. And, of course, I also have 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - so I guess that I will just have to live forever to finish all of these challenges.

After plodding through some pretty heavy historical mysteries- The Daughter of Time and Dissolution, I felt the need to come back to the present day. So I just blew through Sharp Objects and am about 1/2 way through Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger. Sharp Objects was excellent...disturbing, but a very unique and suspenseful story...I'm finding Beautiful Lies to be great so far as well, though less disturbing and more relatable...with some smart humor injected in for good measure.

*Sorry, the touchstone wouldn't load for Beautiful Lies...*

#107, Shortride Moo was the book that got me hooked on Jane Smiley although it's a long time since I read it and I've found Smiley's work uneven since then.

I decided it was time to try The Magic Mountain again and got my 1972 copy off the shelf. Its bright yellow cover has been burned in my memory since the two previous times I tried to read it. Alas, the pages started tearing as I turned them, and then the cover fell off. Scotch-tape repairs haven't solved the problem, so I'll (sadly) be buying a new copy today.

#104 - I read The Remains of the Day earlier this year and found it a very worthwhile book. It's an interesting character study.

#105 - I enjoy Jane Austen, but I find that I cannot read her quickly. She's one of those authors that I really have to be in the mood for, since I know I'll be spending a lot of time with even her shorter books.

For my part, I'm about 100 pages into His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, (very good, so far), and have just begun Notes From the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, (thus far rather rantish and slightly dull).

>111 bookaholicgirl: bookaholicgirl
I hope you enjoy All Over but the Shoutin I loved it.
I just finished Oryx and Crake, my first, but definitely not last, Maragret Atwood.
I'm not reading The Book Thief, which immediately sucked me in.
I also just started Life of Pi which has been on my TBR list for a long time.

#114 xicanti: Notes floored me when I first read it. Stick it out, it changes. (And it's not all that long.)

Ulysses and James Joyce are on my bedside shelf and I have been on page 210 for a couple of weeks now. Don DeLillos White Noise is my book of choice this week and I think I will have finished enjoying the book Friday evening. I'm also reading Derek Walcotts Tiepolo's Hound which is beautiful, his couplets invoke the sea, the heat, the streets of Paris, Art, Love, Life.

I'm currently working on Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender, and the Middle Class in Lebanon, 1870-1920 by Akram Fouad Khater, Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege, and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon by Elizabeth Thompson, Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz. Planning on starting Adrift on the Nile by Mahfouz early next week.

Reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris...almost finished...I've read most of the others but my local book emporium hasn't had this one until this past Monday the 21st! Talk about frustrating. I just can't bring myself to order mass-market paperbacks from Amazon. Don't know exactly why.

Finished A Tale of Two Cities last night. I had forgotten about the irony of the doctor's letter. I couldn't remember whether it was real or a fabrication by the DeFarges, but he didn't disown it. Pross' bravery is impressive.

I've been reading The Telling in bits and pieces, but now it becomes my primary book and I'll probably finish it in a couple of days. Then I've got a long list of books mentioned by LTers to start on!

I finished reading Never let me go and the ending was very powerful to me infact I can't stop thinking about it. I have already traded the book with a work colleague and I told her don't cheat and read the end (she does that sometimes) and keep reading until the end (after reading the first 3rd I was about to give up).

I've started The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson and am enjoying it.

I read Next by Michael Crichton over the weekend. Couldn't put it down. I was fascinated by the tidbits of information about genes/DNA and hasd fun picking out fact from fiction.

I've now started Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper which I've been meaning to read for ages now, to finish off the Dark is Rising series.

I finished Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham yesterday. It was very good. There are many books from that time period that deal with artists choosing not to conform to societal conventions, and I appreciated Maugham's twist at the end.

I started The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night, and I am about 180 pages into it. I cannot put it down. McCarthy's descriptions of a postapocolyptic wasteland are mesmerizing, and I am deeply moved by the two protagonists. I hope that everything turns out alright for them. I guess I only have about 60 more pages before I find out.

I've finished reading Breakfast at Tiffany's but my edition also has three more short stories:
- House of Flowers
- A Diamond Guitar
- A Christmas Memory

but all of these together are only about half as long as "Breakfast".
I'm really pleased to be able to be getting through a book, I've had such a spell of titles lately that I have given-up on for one reason or another.
Pleased as well because "Breakfast" is one of the 1001 books you must read before you die.

I'm almost through reading Masquerade: A Blue Bloods Novel by Melissa de la Cruz. Although it is interesting, I enjoyed Blue Bloods more.

Kiwiflowa, I'm with you on Never Let Me Go. It's one of the most powerful books I read last year and I thought about it long after I finished it.

I finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls tonight on the train. I'm actually kind of sorry I devoured it in 2 days -- it was too good to put down, but I wish I could've made it last a little longer. Walls really understands what show-don't-tell writing means. I don't think she wrote a single sentence that started with "I felt," but I still felt absolutely everything along with her.

I'm going to start Midnight's Children tonight over dinner.

#124 wonderlake, A Christmas Memory is one of my all-time favorite stories; an absolute jewel! Hope you enjoy!

Just finished Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart and The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. I am now in need of non-fiction. Just started Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

I rushed out on my lunch hour to buy Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik; I'm looking forward to my bus ride home so I can greedily devour as much of it as I possibly can.

#126 I loved Midnight's children - adored the writing and the story :)

#106, #114. Indeed, The Remains of the Day was superb. I'm looking forward to sampling some of Ishiguro's other works.